Online Income

[GreyMatters]

I've done lots od searching on this subject but never have I asked in a forum.

Do any of you generate income through online work? What are some legitimate "jobs" that can be done from anywhere with an internet connection?

I'm not looking to get rich quick or easy. I'm just looking for legitimate remote work job that I can do while I travel.

[Wolf_Stache]

I generate online income from ebook sales. (Of course you have to write the book first). You could also do book formatting for other writers - just requires a basic knowledge of word or indesign (yes, you can format books in word - I used it for mine and it came out beautifully). It's not hard, but it can be a bit tedious a lot of authors just don't want to take the time to learn how to do it, so they will pay others to do it for them.

[maki]

i generate some income from owning several websites that have steady, decent traffic. they are monetized with google adsense, amazon affiliate links, and a smattering of other, smaller ad-related services.

i think i'll net about $800 from these sites in october. funds go into my paypal account, and the balance (after expenses) goes into a business banking account i have set up. this revenue then funds either more website acquisitions, flows into my stock portfolio, or gets placed into real estate investments, in that order.

i only recently started this as a hobby (i wanted to do something profitable when i was at home), and you have to do some serious due diligence and sift through a lot of chaff, but the cash on cash return is quite remarkable.  would i rely on this as a source of income to live off of, though? probably not...it's too risky for my personal tastes.

[CowboyAndIndian]

I have a couple of websites that I make money off.

One is just an adsense site and generates about $100/month average.

The other is an online wine store (with a partner who owns a retail wine store) which generates about $1000/month now, but has potential to go as high as $10,000/month.

Just be aware, this is not something which comes easy. I have spent at least 6 months full time work (If I add up my evening/weekends etc over the last year) on the wine store.

There is a good possibility of failure where you do not make money

Also, chances of loosing a lot is less since hosting/domain names etc are relatively cheap. The main thing is how hard you work on it and how unique a site you have.

[GreyMatters]

I generate online income from ebook sales. (Of course you have to write the book first). You could also do book formatting for other writers - just requires a basic knowledge of word or indesign (yes, you can format books in word - I used it for mine and it came out beautifully). It's not hard, but it can be a bit tedious a lot of authors just don't want to take the time to learn how to do it, so they will pay others to do it for them.

This is interesting. Do you have any recommendations to point me in the right direction to start off? Thanks for chiming in as it were.

[Wolf_Stache]

I generate online income from ebook sales. (Of course you have to write the book first). You could also do book formatting for other writers - just requires a basic knowledge of word or indesign (yes, you can format books in word - I used it for mine and it came out beautifully). It's not hard, but it can be a bit tedious a lot of authors just don't want to take the time to learn how to do it, so they will pay others to do it for them.

This is interesting. Do you have any recommendations to point me in the right direction to start off? Thanks for chiming in as it were.

Which part, the ebook sales or the formatting?

[Lauran75]

I generate online income from ebook sales. (Of course you have to write the book first). You could also do book formatting for other writers - just requires a basic knowledge of word or indesign (yes, you can format books in word - I used it for mine and it came out beautifully). It's not hard, but it can be a bit tedious a lot of authors just don't want to take the time to learn how to do it, so they will pay others to do it for them.

This is interesting. Do you have any recommendations to point me in the right direction to start off? Thanks for chiming in as it were.

Which part, the ebook sales or the formatting?

I would be interested to hear about the formatting - where do you learn how to do that? how to advertise?

Thanks!

[GreyMatters]

I generate online income from ebook sales. (Of course you have to write the book first). You could also do book formatting for other writers - just requires a basic knowledge of word or indesign (yes, you can format books in word - I used it for mine and it came out beautifully). It's not hard, but it can be a bit tedious a lot of authors just don't want to take the time to learn how to do it, so they will pay others to do it for them.

This is interesting. Do you have any recommendations to point me in the right direction to start off? Thanks for chiming in as it were.

Which part, the ebook sales or the formatting?

Ditto...I'm interested in the formatting also. That sounds like something I could find meditative.

[Andy_in_Aus]

+2,  formatting or proofreading,  that sounds right up my alley,  for a side gig!

[Wolf_Stache]

For the formatting:

I learned out to do it off a guide I found online. The tricky part is that each vendor requires different formatting. Many of them have how-to guides you can download.

Amazon
Here is amazon's https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=335297#335297. This link takes you to the KDP Support forum where there are lots of how-to and help on how to format for Amazon

Or this book (I can't verify it, but someone one the forums recommended it) - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BK9TN4E/?tag=annals

I purchased this set, which comes with a very detailed how-to guide - http://www.bookdesigntemplates.com/template-gallery/. I wouldn't recommend using this if you are going to do this for other authors, but it would be a place to get a good overview of what the book should look like and best practices

Smashwords
The style guide http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

Draft to Digital
https://www.draft2digital.com/faq/

Those are the three I used, which get you into most of the major stores:Barnes and Noble, ibooks, Scribd, plus like 15 others.

Google Play/Google Books
Same as Draft to Digital formatting

If you want to upload books individually to all those sites (some authors do because Draft to Digital and Smashwords take a cut), then you'd need a formatting guide for each one.

Indesign
If you can format in InDesign, you don't have to do all the steps above - you can make one file that will work with every Vendor. I didn't use this program but there are lots of youtube videos and websites with help.

[Wolf_Stache]

Where to advertise

Proofreading:

I found a proofreader through this website: http://www.the-efa.org/
This site also allows you to place ads: http://naiwe.com/

Formatting and Proofreading:

A lot of people advertise directly on the boards that writers frequent:
The Writer's Cafe on Kboards allows you to post ads once a month and has a services Yellow Pages you can get added to:http://www.kboards.com/index.php/board,60.0.html

Word of Mouth: Authors have a lot of other friends that are Authors. If you do a good job they'll send their friends to you. I've seen people advertising go from 'new' to 'have a four month waitlist' on the Kboards in just a few months.

[Andy_in_Aus]

Great post @gamergirl, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Lots of good info to digest. I better get reading!

[APowers]

I'm also interested in jobs that can be done online. Doesn't exactly have to be entirely online, but something that could be done while taking a long/slow road trip.

Anyone ever tried Amazon's Mechanical Turk with any success?